A Monday Local Digest brief about cancer deaths in the state buried the lead: Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of women and men in Wisconsin and in the nation.

November is lung cancer awareness month. Lung cancer's color is clear, to indicate it is the "invisible cancer." It's awareness month falls on the heels of everything pink. So in spite of the fact that nearly twice as many of our mothers, daughters and sisters will die of lung cancer than breast cancer, that message gets lost in the pink hype.

Don't get me wrong - breast cancer is a serious disease, but we as a country have made a concerted investment in fighting it. And consequently, the survival rate for breast cancer has dramatically increased and the death rate has plummeted.

It is time for us to make the same investment in the leading cancer killer of women and men - lung cancer.

Great research is going on at the University of Wisconsin and all over the world, but it cannot move forward without funding.

Consider donating to lung cancer research. The life that depends on it could be your own.

- Regina Vidaver, executive director, National Lung Cancer Partnership, Madison

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